Council opts to chart path to make city ‘renewable’
Dan Lamb, with City of Regina Traffic Services, rides a bucket truck to install a pedestrian crossing signal as city staff replace all the traffic lights at the corner of Albert Street and 4th Avenue. Administration to create framework on how to implement
The City of Regina will soon have a “blueprint for action” on renewable energy.
Those were the words of Mayor Michael Fougere after council unanimously passed a motion that filled council chambers with environmentalists on Monday. It directed administration to prepare a framework for Regina to commit to becoming a 100-per-cent renewable city by 2050.
“We need to make a statement for renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions,” Fougere said. “We are going to champion the cause, and we look forward to rallying people together to make this possible.”
Administration has until the end of next year to get it done. It will also have to propose four short-term steps to lead the way, after Coun. Bob Hawkins successfully tacked on an amendment to strengthen the motion.
“Aspiration is fine but action is much better,” said Hawkins. “What we want to see is some concrete action. We don’t want to kick the can down the road. We want the accountability on us.”
The amendment called for actions to improve Regina’s environmental sustainability that could be implemented by the end of 2023. Fougere said that reflects the “urgency” of the issue. Hawkins pointed to numerous ideas that administration could consider.
He spoke of green roofs, grey water, efficient buildings, electric buses, geothermal energy and banning bottled water in city facilities.
Coun. Andrew Stevens proposed the original motion, along with Couns. Joel Murray and John Findura. He said it’s about phasing out fossil fuels as a way of generating electricity in the city.
But Saskpower could be a barrier since it controls power generation in Saskatchewan. Fougere said the Crown corporation may not be “in harmony ” with what the city wants to do.
“They have a monopoly on electricity and we have to talk about how that could change before we move forward,” said Fougere, who called for a “conversation” with the province.
Stevens said slow-footed provincial governments were the impetus for the idea in the first place, which grew out of a conference of municipal leaders last year in Vancouver.
“Cities are like, forget it,” he said. “We need to take this by the horns and do this ourselves.”
Council chambers erupted in applause after councillors passed the motion, with an extended standing ovation. About a dozen speakers had pressed for action in the lead-up to the vote, pointing to the urgency of climate change and the importance of small steps to fight it.
Many said that Regina is better situated than any other large Canadian city to take advantage of solar energy. They also spoke of the risks of inaction.
Ralph Kennedy Gonzales, a Filipino immigrant who’s now a high school student in Regina, connected rising temperatures to typhoons that have devastated his home country. He gave a gripping account of one that he lived through in the Philippines.
But he looked expectedly to Regina joining other cities in Canada and around the world that have made commitments to become renewable.
“It will encourage other cities to do the same thing,” Gonzales said. “It will spread city by city, country by country, everywhere.”
Others in the audience were less optimistic about where Monday’s vote will lead. John Klein said he’s still waiting for the city to put its money where its motion is.
“The proof will be in the budget,” he said.